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1.31.2012

Painting In Progress

We have lived in our house for 14 months and for 14 months we have lived with a floor to ceiling tan paint job (with the exception of 2 bedrooms and the kitchen, if anyone is keeping track.)

For some, this would feel like a finished and well coordinated paint job. For me, it feels drab and like the previous owner's house.

You can even get a glimpse of the tan ceiling in the pic below. If only I was as tan as our walls.

This may surprise you but I have matured a little bit (I said a little bit) since I started this blog. Instead of driving to the paint shop, flippin' through a couple of samples, paying for a couple of gallons of what I think it the perfect color, hauling it home and begging Henry to spend his whole weekend painting, I bought SAMPLE SIZES!!! Hooray Nikki! The process of painting it on the walls and living with my initial choices for a few days was a proud process for me.

Since Oscar arrived we use No VOC paint. The smell is hardly visible and it is safe for the little dude to hang around home while the paint goes on. It must be noted, that we never worried about paint toxins when it was just Henry and I and poor poor Stella! The paint is considerably more money per gallon, but anything for our Oscar's health and in the whole scheme of things No VOC paint is still a cheap way to transform a space.

Here are the grays I picked out for the guts of our house. While I was at Sherwin Williams I was convinced the top swatch (in the pic above) and the bottom swatch (in the pic below) was the perfect shade. After a few days of checkin' out the swatches in different lights and in different spaces we chose the lightest gray (F). I love light and white spaces, but always make the mistake of going to dark.

This time things are different, samples and all.

As for the bottom of the wainscoting, clean white. The white we decided on matches our existing white really well, could be an exact match says our neighbor, a professional painter. Again, it paid to buy the samples. The white is Dover White.

College Roomies, does that color ring a bell?? We had a crazy landlord who insisted that if we pounded too many holes in the walls we would need to buy ourselves a gallon of Dover White paint and fix up the place. Which would be reasonable, if he didn't also spy in our windows and relentlessly try to convince us to join his church. Those things were not in the lease! Needless to say, we were perfect tenants and were happy to tape our U2 and Dave Matthews Band posters to the wall.

Because of that experience I didn't want to use the Dover White, but Henry insisted that I wasn't being reasonable. Blah blah blah. Those kind of things stick with me.

It might take a few weekends to finish this project, so make sure to check back! I will tell you that the light gray is on, Fleur de Sel by Sherwin Williams, and the ceiling has been painted white (a mix of whites we had in the basement) and I already love living in our house even more than I did before!

Hello, I'm stopping by from Vintage Revivals where you were listed as someone's favorite blog. I can see why! I'm not sure what's more adorable - your beautiful house or your cute family. Love the hubby painting with the baby on his back. :D I really enjoyed my visit!

Haha Landlord Shmuckede! Because of him I had all of my posters put on foam board. What an environmental catastrophe! I still have the one with all of the signatures from the band Bush :). I love your blog Nikki!

The Lovely Gang

I am Nikki. I write this blog, at least I use to. Now I just check in on occasion. Mr. Lovely and I are over achievers, we made 3 babies in 3 years. We are exhausted! I use to be a DIY and thrift store maniac. Now I like to save my pennies and buy smart- or hire a professional. Most of my home improvements consist of rotating toys from the playroom to the basement. This blog is just a little about us.